ND grad Dorwart serving as chaplain on Diego Garcia

January 05, 2009|SBT24/7 News Report

Diego Garcia. That's where the Rev. Bill Dorwart, former provincial superior of the Indiana Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross, is these days. The 1976 graduate of Notre Dame completed graduate school here, was ordained — and was always a familiar face in South Bend before heading off to the University of Portland, where he served as director of campus ministry since 2004.

But then last fall, Dorwart enlisted in the U.S. Navy for the third time, according to a university press release.

Now, he finds himself ringing in the New Year as military chaplain on the Indian Ocean island.

Â?I canÂ?t think of a more important place to be, especially at wartime,Â? Dorwart said before leaving.

Especially since nearly 30 percent of Navy and Marine Corps personnel are Catholic, but only about 7 percent of the chaplains are Catholic priests, the Catholic Diocese of Spokane reported.

And Dorwart's mission to serve seems similar.

His Jan. 2 message of "Living From the Inside Out" stresses the importance of spirituality.

"For some, the spiritual dimension of life may be experienced as the drive to excel or the longing to connect. For others, it might be a subtle, inner stirring, summoning, beckoning Â? even questioning," he writes.

Dorwart first enlisted as a 17-year-old from Nebraska, according to the Portland, Ore., university.

After his studies, he returned to the military in 1985 and was assigned as chaplain to U.S. Marines stationed on Okinawa.

Later, he served on the U.S.S. Midway, based in Japan, leaving from there for the Persian Gulf and Desert Shield and Desert Storm assignments.

Dorwart will be assigned to the California-based U.S.S. Ronald Reagan after his year on Diego Garcia.